


Hero

by sgtcalhouns



Category: Wreck-It Ralph (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-24 22:07:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20021791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sgtcalhouns/pseuds/sgtcalhouns
Summary: As a firefighter, Tamora is used to running headfirst into dangerous situations every day, but that doesn't make it any easier for Felix.





	Hero

“Sir, please stand back.”

“Please, my wife is in there. I have to make sure she’s alright.”

“I understand that, but this area is not safe for civilians. I need you to stand back.”

Felix took a hesitant couple of steps back from the police squad that blocked his path. Before him blazed a raging fire, and his heart constricted at the thought of Tamora inside that building. Normally, this wouldn’t be cause for concern; although her occupation as a firefighter was not good for his blood pressure, Felix knew that she was trained to deal with these situations. But tonight, he could tell that something was wrong. It didn’t normally take this long for her team to extinguish a fire, and as time passed, the flames only seemed to increase.

He had come here tonight hoping to apologize to Tamora. They had gotten into an argument before she left for work—an argument that, coincidentally enough, was centered on her occupation. It caused Felix a lot of stress and worry to know that his wife was going off to such a dangerous job every day, and he had asked her if she would ever consider doing something else. Their conversation had escalated from there, ending with the door in his face as she left for the night. Now, he worried he may never get the chance to patch things up with her.

He couldn’t take his eyes off the building as it burned, sending thick, black clouds of smoke into the night sky. His nail beds were nonexistent at this point, but that didn’t stop him from biting at what was left—anything to try and calm his frayed nerves. What was left of the establishment groaned as its structural integrity became compromised; it was too weak to support its own weight, and it would come crashing down any minute. A large group of firemen ran out of the building, and Felix’s heart beat wildly in his chest as he eyed each one, searching frantically for Tamora. He recognized one of them as Tamora’s best friend.

“Kohut,” he said, grabbing the familiar man as he passed by. There was a noticeable desperation in his voice as he posed one of the most important questions he would ever ask. “Where is she?”

“She’s still inside,” Kohut answered. He cringed at the pain in Felix’s expression as he spoke. “We’ve been trying to get in contact with her, but we haven’t heard back in a couple of minutes.”

A quiet sob slipped past Felix’s lips as he spoke. 

“Hey, it’s going to be alright,” Kohut said.

“You don’t understand. We had an argument before she left for work today,” Felix said, his tears quickly getting the best of him. “Every day I tell her I love her when she leaves, but today she was angry and I—I didn’t tell her. I have to go find her and tell her how much she means to me, she has to know how much I love her—”

Felix turned back toward the fire, but was unable to step any closer as Kohut grabbed him.

“Whoa, hey, you can’t run in there. If you do that, you’ll be toast long before you make it to her,” he said, speaking calmly as he tried to get through to Felix. “Look, every couple fights sometimes. I’m sure she knows that you love her.”

“I can’t lose her, Kohut,” Felix whimpered. “I don’t know how to live without her.”

“This is Calhoun we’re talking about,” Kohut said comfortingly. “If anyone can make it out of there, it’s her.”

A loud crash interrupted their conversation, and Felix turned just in time to see the building cave in on itself. Within seconds, it was all gone—the building, his love, his _life—_ flattened right before his eyes. Kohut had to wrap his arms around Felix to keep him from running toward the debris in search of what they all knew, deep down, could not be there. He fought back, kicking and screaming in an attempt to break free. Kohut had only heard such a terrible scream once before, when he had held Tamora back from running into a similar disaster, chasing after a lost love.

After a moment, Felix tired himself out and stopped struggling, and Kohut released him. He collapsed on his knees, sobbing so loudly that it drew the attention of everyone around him, but he didn’t care. Everything he cared about was in the pile of ashes and fading embers that had finally been extinguished. 

Behind him, someone called for a medic. He could feel the commotion around him as emergency responders rushed off to their respective duties, but he was too consumed by grief to pay it any mind. A gasp spread through the crowd as bystanders began talking amongst themselves, their attention focused once more on the scene before them. All the while, Felix knelt on the ground, crying into his hands and trying to figure out how he was supposed to go about his life without the person who had brought meaning to it.

“Felix.”

He heard it loud and clear, but he ignored Kohut’s attempt to get his attention. He didn’t have the energy to hear any encouraging words when his entire life had just fallen apart in front of him. 

“Felix, look.”

He raised his head and saw a lone figure pushing themselves to their feet, brushing off the soot and other fallout that had collected on their clothes. It was a firefighter, he realized, as he recognized the uniform they wore. He slowly got to his feet, keeping his eyes fixed on the stranger. They bent down and grabbed hold of something, and medics rushed to the scene as the crowd noticed that they were pulling another person, a civilian, out of the debris. He looked to Kohut, who looked back with a hopeful expression. Felix couldn’t find it in himself to get his hopes up, though. It wasn’t her. There was no possible way it was Tamora.

Once the fireman made sure that the civilian had begun to receive the proper medical attention, they pulled off their helmet. Felix watched with bated breath, knowing he would fall apart all over again if this was another firefighter who had stayed behind instead of his wife. They tossed their helmet to the ground, and Felix’s heart leapt back into place as he saw the familiar blonde fringe that poked out underneath. He heard her cough as she tried to clear the smoke from her lungs, and tears sprang to his eyes as he heard her voice rasp “I’m fine” to the medics who tried to help her. It was her. It really was her.

No one could stop him from breaking through the crowd and running straight to her. A few nearby police officers tried, but Kohut stepped in to block their path and buy him some time. Felix could hardly see due to the tears that blurred his vision, but he didn’t let it slow him down. He was certain he had never run so fast in his entire life.

“Tammy!” he called out to her as he drew near.

“Felix?” she replied, surprised to see him running toward her—he had never showed up to see her at work like this before, and she hated knowing what he had just witnessed.

He didn’t say anything in response, instead launching himself forward and wrapping his arms around her middle in a tight hug. His body shook with sobs as he clung to her and buried his face in her chest. She returned his embrace, releasing a shuddering sigh of relief.

“Oh, Tammy,” he said, the sound muffled against her uniform. “I thought I lost you.”

His voice became weak as he finished his sentence, his throat tightening as he reflected on how close he had really been to losing her.

“It’s okay,” she said, running her fingers through his hair in a soothing motion. “I’m here, and I’m just fine.”

They stayed wrapped around each other for quite some time before all the fear and grief had worked its way out of their systems. Felix hesitated to pull away from her out of worry that she might vanish into thin air if he let go. Eventually, he pulled his face away from her chest to look into her eyes.

“I’m so sorry about our fight,” he said, tears still streaming down his cheeks. “I can’t believe I let you walk out the door without telling you how much I love you.”

“It’s alright,” she said. “That’s not important right now.”

“But it is,” he replied. “I came here tonight to apologize to you. When I saw that building come crashing down, when I thought I would never see you again, all I could think about was how foolish I had been to let a silly disagreement stop me from making sure you know that I love you.”

“I know you do, Felix,” she said. “I could never forget.”

“I need you to know that you are the most important person in the world to me. I don’t know how I would go on if I lost you,” he said, getting choked up again at the thought.

“Shh, it’s okay,” she said, gently wiping away his tears. “You don’t have to worry about that. You didn’t lose me, and you’re not going to lose me. It’s going to take a lot more than a burning building to take me away from you.”

Felix nodded as a new batch of tears poured from his eyes. Tamora pulled him back into her chest and rubbed his back as he cried. 

“I just can’t stop remembering how it felt when I thought—”

“I know,” she said softly, cutting in when she heard his voice grow tight. 

She understood better than most how difficult it was to stop reliving those moments of loss, but she also knew that she could help him move past this. He had put in plenty of hours sitting up with her as she cried after a nightmare, and now it was time for her to return the favor. She tightened her arms around him and he nuzzled into her chest as he finally began to calm down. 

“I love you so much,” he said.

“I know,” she replied, pressing a kiss to his hair. “I love you, too.”

They eventually separated long enough for an EMT to take a look at Tamora, though Felix hovered nearby as they examined her. In some sort of miracle, she suffered no major injuries, although there was a fair amount of bruising on her arms and torso. She and Felix were settled in the back of an ambulance with their legs hanging over the edge, sharing the blanket that had been provided to her.

“I’m sorry, Tammy,” Felix said.

“For what?” she asked.

“For asking you to give this up,” he replied. “I was so focused on my own worry that I wasn’t thinking about how much this job means to you.”

“Maybe you were right to worry,” she said.

“I would worry about you no matter what you did for a living,” he said. “If you were a librarian, I’d worry about paper cuts. I’m always going to worry about you because I love you.”

Tamora reached for his hand and he smiled.

“I let myself forget that this is part of why I fell in love with you. You saved someone’s life today—you’re a hero,” he explained. “It was selfish of me to ask you to change that.”

“I’m not a hero,” she said, brushing off his compliment. “I’m just doing what every other firefighter did out here tonight. I’m not special for doing my job.”

“Yes, you are,” he replied. “When everyone else ran out of that building, you stayed behind, and someone else is still alive because of it. You go above and beyond what’s expected of you.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m a hero,” she said.

“But you are.”

“No, I’m not,” she said. “No one else out here would call me a hero.”

“I know of at least one person here tonight who would call you a hero,” he said.

“Oh yeah?” she asked. “Who?

“Me.”

“Come on, Felix, be serious,” she said with a roll of her eyes.

“I am being serious,” he said. “You’re the bravest, most selfless person I know. That sounds like a hero to me.”

“Come here,” she said, shaking her head in amusement.

She pulled him close and pressed a sweet kiss to his lips. 

“I love you,” she smiled.

“I love you, too,” he said.

Felix looked at her for a moment, reflecting on how lucky he was. Earlier tonight he thought he had lost this woman forever, and now she was sitting beside him, holding his hand and smiling and telling him she loved him. A familiar warmth spread through his chest as she laced their fingers together, and he couldn’t help but swoon.

“My hero.”


End file.
